Meanings
nounpunies pl (plural only)
- AppalachiaUSdialectalpluralplural onlySickness, weakness.
“I brung my boy. He's got the punies and I want the doc to take a look at him.”
2008, Carolyn Jourdan, Heart in the Right Place, page 2222 more examples
"Be-dabs, if the whole gin-works hain't got the punies. Even the mare tuck a spell today. She wouldn't eat corn nor shuck."
1980, James Still, The run for the Elbertas, page 35Other days, when I tried to get up despite feeling weak, she would inform me that I had a case of "the punies" and ought to stay in the tank.
2003, Mark O'Brien with Gillian Kendall, How I became a human being: a disabled man's quest for independence, page 152
Origin
Probably from puny (“weak”).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
punies. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punies
MLA
“punies.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punies. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “punies,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punies.
Source: punies on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.